Amy Nelson and Kathleen Ashenfelter, both 16,toured the Soviet Union for 3 weeks with the People to People Friendship Caravan, a program which takes 1600 American youths to 50 Soviet cities. It is the largest student educational program in the history of the US and USSR.
Library Volunteer Program participants were honored at the recent Friends of the Arcadia Public Library general membership meeting in the Mortenson Art & Lecture Room.
Senior citizens center still faces many, many obstacles. Since the formation of the Arcadia Senior Citizens' Commission in 1978 one of its goals has been to acquire or construct a senior citizens/community center.
The City Council met in special session to hear a presentation by Thomas Safran, a specialist in senior citizen housing. The Arcadia Senior Citizen Commission contends the council isn't moving fast enough on the issue. An advisory vote by the people on senior citizen housing will probably appear on the June primary ballot.
Petitions asking the Arcadia City Council to commit itself to the building of a multi-purpose senior citizens center are being circulated by the ad hoc committee of the Arcadia Senior Citizen's Commission.
An ad hoc committee of seniors plans to collect 5,000 signatures by the end of February asking the Arcadia City Council to commit itself to acquiring a senior center.
Progress toward the construction of a 100-unit senior housing development in Arcadia is being made, but slowly. A Section 202 low-income senior citizen housing project was approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in September 1981.
Arcadia could build a multi-purpose Senior Citizen Center for $1.5 million plus the cost of the property, according to a report submitted to the City Council by Warren Shaw, chairman of the Arcadia Senior Citizen's Commission. The report indicated that most of the money would come from state and federal sources, but that Arcadia would need to chip in at least $225,000 of matching funds. The center is necessary, Shaw said, due to a current lack of senior citizen facilities.
The city has decided against trying to lease a vacated elementary school for a senior citizen center. Seniors are interested in having a drop-in center but the additional cost of leasing a school would not be justified.
The surprising Anna May Wong. Like many, author Katie Salisbury was startled to learn of the star, then couldn't stop looking. Wong was a famous Chinese-American movie star in the 1920s and 1930s and had her own television series in the early 1950s. Salisbury's nonfiction book about Wong's life is titled Not Your China Doll. The author is half-Chinese and grew up in Arcadia.